Dealing with worker shortage

Northern Indiana board seeks $3.3 million in grant money.

Northern Indiana board seeks $3.3 million in grant money.

March 21, 2006|ED RONCO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Juan Manigault compares northern Indiana's work force to the opening passage of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities." "We have the best of times now, but if we rest on our laurels, we're going to have the worst of times," he said. Manigault is president and chief executive officer of the Northern Indiana Workforce Investment Board, which put together a three-part report on how to deal with worker shortages in different industries. The Northern Indiana board recently released parts two and three. The first part of the report, which analyzed the region's economic successes and weaknesses, was released at the beginning of 2006. The report is competing with similar projects put together by other work force investment boards across Indiana for a share of $20 million in state grant money. Our region is asking for $3.3 million to help address skills in health care. But the region also could see shortcomings in manufacturing. For an area where nearly one-fifth of the work force is in manufacturing, a shortage would be bad news. Officials blame the possibility largely on people placing less value on industry and trades and more value on high-profile "glamour jobs," Manigault said. "The legal profession, accounting," he said. "There are only so many lawyer and accounting jobs. What's going begging is jobs in health care and manufacturing." Many manufacturing jobs have salaries starting at $35,000 per year and require a two-year associate's degree versus a four-year baccalaureate degree, Manigault said. Nationally, professional careers make up about 20 percent of the work force -- a number that hasn't changed for the last 50 years, Manigault said. What has changed, though, is the movement from unskilled to skilled workers. That's why much of the money for which the Northern Indiana board has applied -- should they receive it -- will go toward funding a respiratory therapy program at Ivy Tech Community College and a master's degree in nursing program at Indiana University South Bend. Staying competitive To stay ahead of the game, and keep the area work force in good shape, local leaders need to rethink the way they do business, Manigault said. The report details some ways they can do that, including virtual reality training opportunities, more academic programming and making sure workers are up to date on the latest technology. But the No. 1 solution (they're ranked in order of importance in the report) is something called "process innovation." That's essentially finding new ways to do old things. A lot of stuff gets made in northern Indiana: manufactured homes, auto parts, RVs, musical instruments, orthopedic devices -- you name it. We've always made stuff, and we're going to keep making it. But while we're doing that, competitors in other parts of the country and world are coming up with more efficient methods. Northern Indiana needs to keep innovating and becoming more efficient, the report said. Grant Black, assistant professor of economics and director of the Bureau of Economic Research at IUSB, praised the report and said the Northern Indiana board put together "forward-thinking, longer-term kinds of solutions." But the state -- which commissioned the reports from boards across Indiana -- is asking for quick fixes in many cases, Black said. "Everybody's supposed to, within a year or something, be able to document effects of their implemented solutions," Black said. "I don't know if that's enough time to really see what's happened."